Chapter 2 - Part 4 - Qualities And Drawbacks - Section E
Eidetic Memory Your character has an uncanny ability to remember certain impressions, events, or visions. After focusing for a few moments on some subject, he can recall this sight with startling accuracy. Standard 1-POINT QUALITY A person with the one-point version of this Quality can "freeze" an image in his mind (a static image like a page or a stop-action scene from the movie that is "life") and recall it with precision at a later time. This is the limit of his capacity though; once three images are "recorded," a new one requires the displacement of an old one (character's choice). We recommend that you write down the circumstances of your character's mental "snapshot" so your Director has a good reference when you ask that detailed question several sessions later. Otherwise, he should fill in any details you can't remember whenever it is necessary. Your Director may also require an Intelligence (doubled) or skill (say, Art for drawing) roll to accurately reproduce the memory in a form that others can recognize or use as a basis for research. The number of Success Levels in this roll gives some indication as to the accuracy of the reproduction. Photographic Memory 2-POINT QUALITY By spending two points, the character gains a much deeper retention of his experiences. After reading a book, he can quote passages without missing a word. After viewing a scene, he can reenact it movement by movement. And he almost never forgets anything. As with Eidetic Memory, your Director will fill in the details but the scope and "memory storage" is essentially unlimited. Your character receives a +1 bonus to any skill roll where memorizing facts is useful, such as Knowledge and Science. Finally, any rolls where memory plays a significant part gain a +1 to +3 bonus, at your Director's discretion. A battle of wits (or at least memory) against this gent is as smart as getting into a land war in Asia (and much more risky than going up against a Sicilian with money on the line). Emotional Influence Demons VARIABLE QUALITY Your character can affect those around him emotionally. The feelings can vary from attraction to anger to depression. How the target reacts is your Director's call. For example, if the emotion is anger and the target fairly assertive, violence is likely. Conversely, if the target is retiring, anger could manifest as passive aggressiveness. To avoid the power's influence, the target must make a Willpower (doubled) roll. If affected, he may make a new Willpower roll each Turn after that. Failure means the target has little control over the emotion at issue. For certain emotions (say lust), your character's Attractiveness levels also modify the target's Willpower roll (such modifiers are paid for separately and do not affect the cost of this Quality). The modification is the converse - negative Attractiveness grants bonuses to the target's roll; positive Attractiveness imposes penalties. The basic Emotional Influence ability costs two points. Penalties may be added to the target's roll for an additional point per level. So, Emotional Influence with a -3 penalty runs five points. Emotional Problems Does your character have difficulty relating to others? Is brooding a lot, wearing dark clothing, and refusing to party, ever, just the jumping off point of his dementia? If the answer is yes, he might have an Emotional Problem or two. Those with Emotional Problems react in unreasonable ways to certain situations and problems. It can be anger, pain, or anguish, and is typically more extreme than the norm. Several specific suggestions are detailed here but feel free to come up with your own inner demons - tortured is what Angel is all about. Now, things do change. Characters in Angel often overcome their limitations (or replace them with new ones). Emotional Problems can be removed during play, but this should always be roleplayed. If you are able to convey the character's inner struggle over the course of several Episodes, your Director might allow him to eliminate the Drawback without having to pay any experience points to do so. And there's probably a Drama Point or two in it for you as well. You thespian, you! Depression 2-POINT DRAWBACK Your character’s emotional problems make the very act of living a chore. Common symptoms include sleep problems (either oversleeping or insomnia), severe procrastination (to the point that the sufferer may lose her job or get kicked out of school), and a lack of interest in anything. A character with Depression suffers a -1 to most Tasks, and tends to avoid becoming involved. This is a 2-point Drawback. A severe shock may snap someone out of this state for a while (a life-threatening crisis could do it), but the character will sink back into inactivity afterwards. Certain drugs and psychiatric treatment can reduce the effect of this problem (which also reduces its value to one point). Easily Flustered 1-POINT DRAWBACK This character is a bit high-strung. When put on the spot or placed in an uncomfortable social situation, he loses control just a bit. He might trip, knock something over, say stupid things, or his limbs just go all akimbo (that's right, we actually used the word "akimbo"). This is mostly comic relief, but your Director may impose a -1 penalty to certain rolls (Dexterity-based for clumsiness, Intelligence-based for foot-in-mouth disease) until the person takes a deep breath and gets it together (or until someone else takes over). This is a one-point Drawback. Emotional Dependency 1-POINT DRAWBACK This clingy type is overly dependent on others. Once he makes a friend, he wants to hang around all the time. When involved in a relationship, this type is excessively needy. Such behavior tends to bug friends and relations big time. This is a one-point Drawback. Fear Of Commitment 1-POINT DRAWBACK Whenever your character starts feeling too close to somebody, he becomes afraid and pulls back. Maybe he is worried that if he lets somebody get too close, he will get hurt, and it's . . . just . . . not . . . worth the pain. Or perhaps he fears that if he reveals too much, the other person will see the "real him" and be appalled or disgusted. (Of course, depending on what the "real him" really is, this may not be such an insubstantial concern.) This problem is a one-point Drawback. Fear Of Rejection 1-POINT DRAWBACK When this person experiences rejection (or thinks he has been rejected), he feels hurt and angry. A person with this problem may be afraid to make friends or approach those he is attracted to, and if his fears come true, he harbors a great deal or resentment and anger. This is a one-point Drawback. Insecurity 1-POINT DRAWBACK Remember Tara in Season Four? Are we talking shy or what? And Xander was far from a take-charge guy in the beginning. It’s that kind of insecurity that can paralyze a person and cause them to mumble. An insecure person might hesitate before acting (-2 to Fear Tests) or suffer penalties when interacting with others. This is a 1-point Drawback. Loner 1-POINT DRAWBACK This character has little need for friends or companions . . . or others in general. Whether motivated by fear of getting hurt or sheer disgust with those around her, she is highly unpleasant to be around and will not accept aid of any kind. Buffy went through periods like this fairly regularly. This is a 1-point Drawback. Empathy 2-POINT QUALITY With a Perception and Notice roll, your character can tell what someone is feeling. People are generally pretty poor at hiding their anger, grief, or smug confidence. The better the roll, the more your character learns about exactly how they are feeling. With enough Success Levels, she can tell the difference between someone being afraid for herself and being afraid that something horrible will happen to someone that she cares deeply about. Most of the time, the empath can only read the strongest emotions a target is feeling. An empath can’t necessarily tell if someone is lying, but she can easily tell when someone is extremely nervous or scared when speaking. The person might be scared because she is lying, she might be nervous because someone will get really mad at her for revealing a secret, or she might be scared about something else entirely. Unfortunately, this talent only works on those who are wholly or mostly human (like werewolves in human form). Vampires, ghosts, and demons are all too weird for your character to read their emotions. And who wants to spend enough time with those folks to learn what they are feeling anyway? Enchanted or Superscience Item 2-POINTS PER LEVEL QUALITY Your character is the proud possessor of a powerful magic item or a wondrous superscience device. She may have stolen it, inherited it, or simply found it in a dumpster—in any case she now owns it. Your character knows how to use it and while it may have one or two secrets, it’s basically hers and under her control. Like spells, both enchanted and superscience items have Power Levels, and your character must pay two points for each such level. No character can start the game with an item more powerful than level six. While this Quality allows characters to start with an extremely powerful item, if it is destroyed or stolen, the points paid for it are gone. Directors should never maliciously take away such items, but if your character strikes a huge demon with a magic sword and the demon grabs it and teleports back to its home dimension, she is simply out of luck. Again, that whole life-not-fair thing . . . Enchanter/Superscientist 5-POINTS PER LEVEL QUALITY Other than casting spells and making minor items, magic is used to create objects of great power. We’re not talking about talismans, charms, or vials of witchdetecting goo here. Any kind of magician can do that. Only certain practitioners can devise and craft significant mystical objects. Most of these folks use traditional methods to create things like magic swords or amulets, but recently some have used the trappings of technology in their work. These superscience items appear to be pieces of astoundingly advanced technology, but for purposes of the BtVS RPG, they are just as magical as a draconian katra. A character with the Enchanter version of this Quality can create powerful items such as mystical talismans and magic wands; one with the Superscientist Quality builds wondrous freeze-rays, intelligent robots, and the like. A character cannot possess both aspects of this Quality though. There’s a basic thought-process incompatibility there and we don’t want anyone’s brain to go to mush on our watch. Enhanced/Reduced Attributes VARIABLE QUALITY OR DRAWBACK Enhanced Attributes include your basic superstrength, super-speed, and other super-stuff. Some supernatural beings can lift cars over their heads, hear a whispered conversations from across football fields, leap over small buildings in a single bound, run faster than speeding locomotives, fly . . . ah okay, that's probably going a bit too far. To reflect these super-abilities, your character gets Attribute bonuses, ranging from +1 to +5 or even higher. These bonuses are added to the character's Attributes after the Attribute points specified by his Character Type have been distributed. So, if you give your character a Strength 4 and then devise a Demon Quality that adds three to Strength, the final Attribute level would be seven. On the opposite end are Reduced Attributes. Some supernatural beings are slower (or slower-witted) than normal humans. Wimpy non-humans might suffer a -2 to their Strength, demons not known for their wit might have a -1 penalty to their Intelligence; a slave race could have a -1 penalty to their Willpower, and so on. For reduced Attributes, anything beyond -2 is probably too extreme for playable characters. Enhanced Attributes cost one point per +1 bonus up to +10 for Strength and Constitution, and +5 for everything else. Beyond that point, the bonuses cost five points per level (so a +10 bonus to Dexterity would cost 30 points, five for the first +5, and 25 for the next five levels - to use a fairly extreme example). Reduced Attributes provide one point per -1 penalty instead of costing a point. So, a demon race with Strength +3, Dexterity +3, Constitution -2, and Intelligence -1 would have a total cost of three points. Your Director may have a thing or two to say about serious levels of Enhanced Attributes. Be prepared to have him declare an upper limit of +5 to any one Attribute. Once again, four color superheroics may not be his, or your, cup of sake.Category:Rules